Sprint and Samsung have released their latest entry-level to mid-tier Android smartphone, the Intercept. The Intercept is a horizontal slider with a large QWERTY keyboard and it runs Android 2.1. There is no TouchWiz or other customization of Android, so you get the straight deal here.

The Intercept's specs are mid-tier and it's priced at $99 with contract after a rebate. The specs include a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, EV-DO Rev. 0 (no, not Rev. A), WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth and a GPS that works with Google Maps. The phone runs on a better than average CPU for a phone of this price: an 800MHz Samsung CPU.

The display resolution is odd at 240 x 400, which is common on feature phones but rare for Android where entry to mid-level phones have a 320 x 480 pixel display. The Intercept has a multi-touch capacitive display but strangely multi-touch pinch zooming works in the web browser but not in Gallery.

Sprint software includes Sprint TV, NASCAR and Sprint Football Mobile. There is no Sprint Navigation, but Google Maps does have spoken turn-by-turn directions.